NORTH ATTLEBORO - A picture is emerging that Ocean Fresh Seafood might have been a house of cards long before it apparently collapsed late last week.

While troubles at the North Attleboro company were relatively unknown to the public until recently, the firm and its owners were known to the seafood industry as potentially shaky credit risks, according to ratings by Seafax, the maritime industry's credit reporting service.

George Babieau, one of the principals in Seafax, said the company's rating had been downgraded to "cautionary" status this spring and that an insurance carrier that covers suppliers against losses from non-paying customers canceled its coverage on Ocean Fresh in June.

Armed with such credit information, seafood suppliers normally would slow their deliveries or demand cash payment, Babieau said.

In the meantime, Ocean Fresh employees continue to work, wondering just how long that will last. For the past four years, Claire Cargill has been happy to be the smiling face greeting customers and ringing up orders of scallops, lobster and haddock at Ocean Fresh Seafood.

These days, however, the retail store cashier is worried for herself and other Ocean Fresh employees, praying they'll still have jobs once a scandal involving financial fraud allegations against owner Robert Coutu are resolved.

"I figured that this would be my last job, that I'd retire from here," said Cargill, 61, taking a break outside the store Friday. "I still hope I do. At my age, I don't want to be starting over again."

Wells Fargo Business Credit took over the North Attleboro retail store and wholesale distribution company, which employs about 60 people, after alleging that Coutu defaulted on a $9 million loan and that the company's owners conspired to transfer assets from the company to a dummy firm in the Bahamas.

The distribution arm has since been closed and workers say they have been kept largely in the dark about the future of the business.

Bank officials have declined to comment on the local firm, although both employees and a consultant who said his company was hired by the bank, say potential buyers have indicated interest in purchasing the company. It is not clear under the circumstances, however, whether there is enough interest to keep Ocean Fresh open while a new operator is found.

Some workers, like Cargill, hope there is.

"I'm crossing my fingers," she said.

Those whose jobs depend on the store aren't the only ones in financial jeopardy because of the turmoil surrounding Ocean Fresh.

"He didn't just hurt us, he hurt a lot of people," one worker, who declined to identify himself, said of Coutu. The man, who said he worked for the company for several years, said a number of New Bedford seafood firms may stand to lose money owed to them by the business and that other tenants of the Route 1 shopping plaza occupied by the seafood store will be hurt if the business goes under. "Ocean Fresh brings a lot of people in here. Other stores depend on that business," he said.

A number of calls to New Bedford fish distributors went unanswered Friday.

One local businesswoman who could be hurt by a shutdown is Lianne Jodoin, owner of Norm's Seafood Restaurant, which is next door to Ocean Fresh although it is not affiliated with the fish market or its owners.

"They bring in a lot of traffic," Jodoin said. "But I think we'll be able to survive."